Love and Loss
by TheArtistJD
Summary: A PG13-ish rated fanfic. Warning- I am a procrastinator! :) I'm kind of an aspiring writer so please pass this link on to as many people as you can! This is a nice, heartwarming kind of story, just a carry-on from Harry Potter. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for your patience! I'm trying my best to update, my schedule's REALLY busy.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"What in the name of…" Draco gasped, astonished.

When the beautiful barn owl swooped in to the dining room, where Draco and Scorpius were having breakfast, Draco could have never guessed what was in the fat letter that was tied to the bird's foot. However, Scorpius had a bad feeling about it.

"Must be your prefect letter, ay son?" Draco grinned at Scorpius, who squirmed nervously in his seat.

"Er…I don't know dad…" he began nervously.

"Nonsense!" Draco said, carelessly waving his hand. "Stop being so modest, Scorpius…" he said as he carefully broke open the seal and pulled out the letter. "Now let's see here…"

Scorpius watched anxiously as his father's smile was wiped off his face completely. He jumped when his father slammed his hand on the table, the letter crumpled up in his fist.

"You-you-" Draco said in a trembling voice, his face tomato red. "How…how dare you…never thought…a son of mine…"

"Did…did the prefect letter…come?" Scorpius asked timidly.

Draco exploded. "PREFECT LETTER? Why you insufferable little WRETCH! I doubt you'll EVER become a prefect after THIS! Read this! READ IT!" Draco roared. He shook the crumpled letter underneath Scorpius's nose.

Scorpius squinted at the parchment. The letters slowly began to wiggle, shake, and then all of a sudden, it was chaos on the paper. The t's tangoed with the g's, the h's and the f's hid behind the o's, and the i's chased their dots around. The letters whizzed around so fast Scorpius felt dizzy. All the letters merged into a giant, tangled mess. Scorpius could not make out even one word of it.

"WELL?" Draco yelled.

"I-I can't, dad. I can't read it." Scorpius mumbled, ashamed.

"YOU CAN'T?! SO…so…it's true then. The letter was…telling the truth." Draco said, calming down. He ran his hands through his platinum blond hair. "But then…"

Scorpius was relieved his father was calming down a bit. "…Dad?" he asked cautiously.

Draco was slowly coming to a point of realization. His son was…ill. Or something like that. He had to be. It's not like his son was an illiterate or something. He looked at his son, who was watching him warily.

"Scorpius. Go to your room. You're ill, and you need to lie down. Go. Now."

"I-I-but dad I'm fine!" Scorpius protested. What was going on?! He didn't even _know_ what the letter was about.

"DON'T argue Scorpius. I'm calling a nurse right now."

"Dad-"

"NOW!"

Scorpius practically ran upstairs to his room. He slammed the door and collapsed onto his bed, sobbing. What had he done? He wasn't ill for sure, he knew that. What had made his father so angry? Scorpius was scared, about his father's temper, of his father's lack of patience, _of his father._

He rolled onto his back and looked at the posters around his room. He looked admiringly up at the biggest one, of a tall, freckled, redheaded man, wearing a keeper's outfit. He squinted at it, trying to read it. _Maybe this time,_ he thought excitedly. He had never been able to read it before, maybe now, he could do it…

He walked over to the poster. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. _I can do this,_ he thought. His heart racing, he opened his eyes.

RANLOD WESYALE

KEPEER CUDHEYL CANONNS

"AUGH!" he screamed in frustration. He ripped down the poster and crumpled it. He flung it across the room and buried his head in his pillow, sobbing again.

Why? _Why?_ What was wrong with him?


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The nurse came out of Scorpius' bedroom.

"Well?" Draco asked her, exasperated. "What's wrong with my son?" This had been the 10th nurse that had tried to diagnose Scorpius in two days. Hopefully she would know what was wrong.

"Well, sir, you see…" She began nervously, wringing her hands together. "I don't think there's nothin' wrong with the kid…y-you see, 'is health is fine, he's in good shape, so really I-I don't-"

"AUGH!" Draco yelled in frustration. "Why can't any of you nurses do ANYTHING right? Is it really that hard to just TAKE A LOOK AT HIM and see what's wrong? HE CAN'T READ PROPERLY! I NEED A CURE!" he bellowed.

"Sir, I really don't think-"

"I'll be writing a review to St. Mungo's, you wait! Now GET LOST!"

Without further ado, the nurse hastily packed her bags and turned on the spot. She vanished as quickly as she had appeared.

Draco entered the room where Scorpius nervously sat, running his hands through his platinum blond hair. He eyed his son furiously. "And you…"

Scorpius flinched.

"If you DARE, even DARE…if this is just some PRACTICAL JOKE…you'll be sorry…" Draco heaved.

"Father, I really don't know what's going on…I'm not…I don't think I'm sick…" Scorpius mumbled.

"Oh don't be silly son, of COURSE you're sick." Drawing himself up to full height, Draco said, "No son of _mine _shall be an illiterate!"

Scorpius opened his mouth to protest, but Draco waved a hand for him to be silent. "That would be the doorbell now," Draco said. He went down to open the door for the next nurse.

Scorpius sighed. The whole day he had been poked, prodded, and even offered bribes to pretend he was sick so his father wouldn't be angry. How many times did Scorpius have to tell the desperate nurses that he wasn't ill?

Draco ran down to open the door. He straightened his collar, and quickly ran a hand through his hair. Hopefully, this nurse would be good-looking. The other ones had been _quite _bores due to their poor looks. He reached for the handle and opened the door.

What he saw nearly made him fall over onto his rump—no. How could this happen? How?

But he mustn't look startled, he told himself. He must remain calm, and composed. His face automatically twisted into a nasty sneer.

"Well, well, if it isn't Granger," He said coldly.

"That's Mrs. Granger to you, ferret!" she said, before she could stop herself.

"So you and the Weasel finally got together eh? Never thought you'd still keep you maiden name, although I suppose you do need some dignity at least…" Draco said.

Hermione blushed furiously. "I-I it isn't-not-like-well" she stammered.

"What are you here for anyways Granger?" Draco asked in a bored voice.

At this, she straightened up. "You yourself called me here," she said defiantly.

"I never-!" Draco said in shock.

"You called for all Healers in the 'A Division' in St. Mungo's. Didn't think a muggle-born would make it so far in the medical field, hmm?" Hermione said in almost a scolding tone.

Draco, on the other hand, was at a loss for words. "I-whatever mudblood. Scorpius is upstairs." Draco mumbled.

Hermione gave him a curt nod, and stalked up the stairs.

Draco watched her go. He found himself staring at the stairs long after she had gone. He shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts. He was shocked with himself—for a minute, all he could register was how pretty Hermione looked when she was angry.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Hermione very gently opened the door and stepped into Scorpius' room. She saw a young, thin boy, who was hunched on the bed, looking helpless. He was an exact replica of Draco-except...his eyes.

Scorpius' eyes were large, beautiful and brown, and which, upon seeing Hermione, narrowed. The boy glared at her and turned away.

Hermione sighed. "So I suppose you, like your father, despise me for being a muggle-born?" she said.

"Why should I care what blood you have?" he sniffed.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "You're not like your father at all," she said in surprise. When Scorpius did not respond, she walked over and sat next to him on the bed.

"I'm here for a very special reason," Hermione said gently. "Your father tells me you're ill..." Scorpius tensed.

"But I don't think so," Hermione continued.

"I can't read anything. Nothing at all. Father says I'm...stupid." Scorpius said. His voice wavered. He turned around, tears in his eyes. "What's-what's w-w-wrong with me?" Scorpius asked. His lower lip trembled.

Hermione put her hand on his shoulder. She had a feeling she knew what was going on.

"Nothing is wrong with you Scorpius. It's just there's something about you that we can make better," she said quietly.

When she looked into his brown eyes, she saw something different. Could it be? Just a slight trace of...hope.

Draco stood outside the room. He could hear conversation, muffled laughter. It took an hour until Hermione finally stepped out of the room. However, she didn't look happy at all.

"What? What is it? Is he ill? Does he need medication?" Draco asked, panicked.

"Is-is there someone...like...erm..." Hermione bit her lip. She took a deep breath.

"Could I please talk to your son's mother?" Hermione asked hesitantly. Draco's anxiety was wiped clean off his face.

Ugh. Not the right topic to start on.

"She died." Draco said shortly, and looked away. Clearly, he didn't want to talk about it.

"I...oh...I'm...so sorry..." Hermione stuttered.

"I don't need your sympathies mudblood!" He snapped. "Now will you tell me what's wrong with my son, so you can get the HELL out of here?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, all sympathy gone. "That's the PROBLEM, ferret. I can't get the hell out of here."

"Wait...what?" Draco said.

"Your son has dyslexia. It's a...muggle disorder, but it can happen to any human being. He's one of the rare few wizard children that has it, and-"

"You, you DARE to suggest that my son has some-some bloody disease from the Muggles?" Draco roared. Then, all of a sudden, it hit him. "YOU probably passed on this disease to him, didn't you? Yeah. Yeah! That's what!"

He had gone too far. Hermione's face flushed with anger.

"Fine!" she yelled. "If that's what you want, then go ahead! Call another stuttering nurse here who can't even manage to stand her ground, much less give a diagnosis!" In one sweeping motion, she gathered her reports and medical supplies into her bag. She turned on her heel and headed for the door.

No. She couldn't leave. He needed her.

"Wait!" Draco called. "Come back!"

Hermione turned around. "Why should I?" she challenged, her face defiant. God, she looked so beautiful with that expression.

"Because-because-" Draco stuttered.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't have all day!"

No. She couldn't leave. "Because-because I need you Hermione!" She raised her eyebrows.

"I mean...my son does!"

Hiding a triumphant smile, Hermione turned around and walked back in the house. "Well then," she said briskly. "Let's talk about the measures necessary to help your son."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Draco and Hermione were sitting at the dining table, which still had the remnants of the morning's breakfast on it.

"So-this...this disletsha thing..."

"Dyslexia," Hermione patiently corrected.

"Right, so this...thing...what has it done to my son?" Draco asked with measured calm.

"It's a reading disability."

"Can't he just get glasses?" Draco asked impatiently.

Hermione sighed. "Dyslexia describes a problem in the areas of the brain that interpret languages. It has nothing to do with vision problems. It's an information processing problem-"

"So he's stupid?"

"No, most people with Dyslexia have normal intelligence, and Scorpius seems like quite a thoughtful boy. Now tell me, how is Scorpius at arithmetic?"

Draco thought for a moment. "I-well...he's good at mental math, but-"

"He's not good at writing, reading, or written math?" Hermione proposed.

"Don't interrupt me mudblood!" Draco hissed.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione continued. "Dyslexia is NOT a disease and is NOT contagious."

"But-but then my son can't be cured?"

Hermione bit her lip. Uh oh. Here we go. "Well," she hesitated. She steeled herself to continue on. "He can be cured, but not in medicine," she said, just as Draco began to reach for his money pouch. "He'll need tuition, and a rigorous study program, which will start all the way from the beginning, to learn his ABC's like a kindergartener, to the level of reading and writing he faces at Hogwarts in his 5th year."

Draco gave a dramatic sigh. "Alright then. Who will you send over?"

Hermione again paused. "...Me. There is no other witch or wizard I know who can treat dyslexia."

"WHAT? How can I let YOU near my SON?! Why you-"

"It is the only way Draco!" Hermione said, exasperated. "Now you can either cooperate, or have your son be a squib for the rest of his life."

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare Draco," Hermione said, arms crossed. She wasn't going to budge this time.

"FINE!" Draco yelled. "Fine! What will be the cost of all this tuition?"

Reluctantly, she answered. "10 galleons per session. There are three per day, for the next two months, not counting the weekends." She wanted to tutor Scorpius for free, she really did. But given her circumstances...she needed the money.

Draco ran his hands through his hair. Although he could feel the weight of his stuffed money pouch, he did NOT want to give any money to this mudblood. _But you could see her three times a day for the next two months. _A small part of him jumped up happily and did a tapdance. He'd have to. He reached into the pouch and pulled out a handful of the large gold coins.

"Here," he said, throwing the money carelessly onto the table. "Your advance payment."

"Alright then," Hermione said briskly. "The tutoring will start tomorrow. See you then, ferret."

"Just...go." Draco said.

Hermione started towards the door, but turned around as her hand reached the door knob. "Draco," she said once more. He looked up. "Dyslexia also can be associated with parental demotivation. So, try not to call your son stupid anymore." She could feel Draco's eyes on her as she left the Malfoy home.


End file.
